Time Market Grid Interface

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for trading a tradable object. One example apparatus includes a microprocessor, a graphical user comprising a first screen region having a plurality of locations in the first screen region, each location corresponding to a price level along a first axis and a time along a second axis. The apparatus also comprises a user input device for sending a command to initiate placement of a timed trade order, and an indicator being dynamically displayed in one of the plurality locations of the first screen region and corresponding to the timed order. In one example embodiment, the indicator dynamically moves over time relative to the second axis indicating a time until the order will be automatically sent to a computerized matching process.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/486,540, filed Jun. 17, 2009 and entitled “Time Market GridInterface,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/144,134, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,574,388, filed Jun. 3, 2005and entitled “Time Market Grid Interface.”

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to the electronic trading. Morespecifically, it relates to a system and method for trading tradableobjects in an electronic trading environment.

BACKGROUND

An exchange is a central marketplace with established rules andregulations where buyers and sellers meet to trade. Some exchanges,referred to as open outcry exchanges, operate using a trading floorwhere buyers and sellers physically meet on the floor to trade. Otherexchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges, operate by an electronicor telecommunications network instead of a trading floor to facilitatetrading in an efficient, versatile, and functional manner. Electronicexchanges have made it possible for an increasing number of people toactively participate in a market at any given time. The increase in thenumber of potential market participants has advantageously led to, amongother things, a more competitive market and greater liquidity.

With respect to electronic exchanges, buyers and sellers may connect toan electronic exchange trading platform by way of a communication linkthrough their user terminals. Once connected, buyers and sellers maytypically choose which tradable objects they wish to trade. As usedherein, the term “tradable object” refers to anything that can be tradedwith a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is not limited to, alltypes of traded events, goods and/or financial products, which caninclude, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, andwarrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections of theforegoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, andmetals. The tradable object may be “real,” such as products that arelisted by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,” such as a combinationof real products that is created by the user. A tradable object couldactually be a combination of other tradable objects, such as a class oftradable objects.

Client entities, such as computers being used by traders to trade, aretypically connected to an electronic exchange by way of a communicationlink to facilitate electronic messaging between the trading entities andthe exchange. The messaging may include market information that isdistributed from the electronic exchange to traders, as well as orders,quotes, acknowledgements, fills, cancels, deletes, cancel and replace,and other well-known financial transaction messages. Although the amountor type of market information published by an electronic exchange oftendiffers, there are typically some standard pieces of information. Forinstance, market information usually includes market depth. Market depthrefers to quantities available at the inside market, e.g., quantities atthe current lowest sell price and the current highest buy price, and canalso refer to quantities available at other prices away from the insidemarket. In addition to providing order book information including priceand quantity information, electronic exchanges can offer other types ofmarket data such as the open price, settlement price, net change,volume, last traded price, last traded quantity, and order fillinformation.

Once a trading station at the client entity receives the marketinformation, the market information may be displayed on the tradingscreen. Upon viewing the market information, traders can take certainactions including the actions of sending buy or sell orders to theelectronic market, adjusting existing orders, deleting orders, orotherwise managing orders. Traders may also use software tools toautomate these and additional actions.

To profit in electronic markets, market participants must be able toassimilate large amounts of data, and easily view and have control overany trader initiated orders. Thus, it is desirable to offer tools thatcan assist a trader in trading in electronic trading systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example embodiments are described herein with reference to the followingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example network configurationfor a communication system utilized to access one or more exchanges;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a client terminal with a numberof layers defining different stages that may be used to implement theexample embodiments described herein; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a market grid interface accordingto one example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

It is beneficial to offer tools that can assist a trader in trading inan electronic trading environment. The example embodiments, among otherthings, are directed towards a graphical interface that can be used fordisplaying, managing, and placing trade orders, while also providing atrader current market information.

One example method includes displaying a first screen region having aplurality of locations, with each location corresponding to a pricelevel along a price axis and further corresponding to a time along atime axis. The example method then includes receiving a command toinitiate placement of a timed trade order to buy or sell a tradableobject, where the timed trade order is an order associated with a priceparameter and a time parameter. According to one example embodiment, thecommand may be received upon selecting a location corresponding to theprice and time parameters in the first screen region. The example methodfurther includes displaying a first indicator corresponding to the timedtrade order in one of the plurality of locations in the first screenregion, where the location corresponds to the price parameter and thetime parameter. The first indicator is then dynamically moved over timeto a new location relative to the time axis.

Another example method includes displaying a second screen region havinga plurality of locations, where each location in the second screenregion corresponds to a price level along the price axis. Upon receivinga command to initiate placement of an immediate execution order to buyor sell the tradable object, where the order is associated with a priceparameter, the method further includes, dynamically displaying a secondindicator in one of the plurality of locations in the second screenregion to represent the immediate execution order. Similarly to thetimed trade order that can be initiated by selecting a location in thefirst screen region, the command to initiate placement of the immediateexecution order can be initiated by selecting a desired location in thesecond screen region.

Additionally, the second screen region may be used to show where anorder is resting in the exchange order queue. So, for example, once anorder is resting in the exchange's order book (it does not matterwhether the order was initiated as a timed order or through immediateexecution) an indicator may be displayed in the second region to showwhere the order is in the exchange order queue relative to otherorders/quantities, if there are any.

While different aspects of the invention are described herein withreference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, itshould be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto.Other systems, methods, and advantages of the present embodiments willbe or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination ofthe following drawings and description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features, and advantages be within thescope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanyingclaims.

II. Hardware and Software Overview

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the exampleembodiments may be operated in an entirely software embodiment, in anentirely hardware embodiment, or in a combination thereof. However, forsake of illustration, the example embodiments are described in asoftware-based embodiment, which is executed on a computer device. Assuch, the example embodiments take the form of a computer programproduct that is stored on a computer readable storage medium and isexecuted by a suitable instruction system in the computer device. Anysuitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices, forexample.

In an electronic trading environment, when a trader selects a tradableobject, the trader may access market data related to the selectedtradable object(s). Referring to FIG. 1, an example communication thatmight occur between an electronic exchange and a client terminal inaccordance with the example embodiments is shown. During a tradingsession, market data, in the form of messages, may be relayed from hostexchanges 106A-106C over communication links 108A-C and 110A-C to aclient terminal generally indicated as 102. As illustrated in FIG. 1,intermediate devices, such as gateway(s) 104A-C, may be used tofacilitate communications between the client terminal 102 and the hostexchanges 106A-C. It should be understood that while FIG. 1 illustrateseach host exchange 106A-106C communicating with the client terminal 102via a separate gateway, a single gateway could be used to providecommunication between the client terminal 102 and multiple exchanges.Alternatively, multiple gateways could be assigned to each electronicexchange.

As mentioned earlier, market information provided by an exchange maycontain data that characterizes the tradable object's order bookincluding, among other parameters, order related parameters, and theinside market, which represents the lowest sell price (also referred toas the best or lowest ask price) and the highest buy price (alsoreferred to as the best or highest bid price). In some electronicmarkets, market information may also include quantities available fortrading the tradable object at certain buy price levels and quantitiesavailable for trading the tradable object at certain sell price levelsother than the inside market price levels.

In addition to providing the tradable object's order book information,electronic exchanges can offer different types of market informationsuch as a total traded quantity value for each price level, an openingprice, a last traded price, a last traded quantity value, a closingprice, or order fill information. It should be understood that marketinformation provided from an electronic exchange could include more orfewer items depending on the type of tradable object or the type ofexchange. Also, it should be understood that the messages provided inthe market information may vary in size depending on the content carriedby them, and the software at the receiving end may be programmed tounderstand the messages and to act out certain operations.

A trader may view the information provided from an exchange via one ormore specialized trading screens created by software running on theclient terminal 102, the embodiments of which will be described inrelation to subsequent sections. Upon viewing the market information ora portion thereof, a trader may wish to take actions, such as sendorders to an exchange, cancel orders at the exchange, or change orderparameters, for example. To do so, the trader may input various commandsor signals into the client terminal 102. Upon receiving one or morecommands or signals from the trader, the client terminal 102 maygenerate messages that reflect the actions taken and send the generatedmessages to each respective exchange. It should be understood thatdifferent types of messages or order types can be submitted to the hostexchanges 106A-C, all of which may be considered various types oftransaction information. Once generated, user action messages may besent from the client terminal 102 to the host exchange(s) overcommunication links 110A-C and 108A-C.

III. System Function and Operation

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a client terminal 200 with anumber of layers defining different stages that may be used to implementvarious example embodiments that will be described in greater detailbelow. The layers include a communication interface 202, a userprogrammable interface 204, a trading application 206, a market gridapplication 208, a processor 210, and a memory unit 212.

The example client terminal 200 can include any type of computingdevice, such as a personal computer, laptop computer, hand-heldcomputer, or any other devices that have network access. Thecommunication interface 202 allows the client terminal 200 to interactwith the trader and to generate contents and characteristics of a tradeorder to be sent to one or more of a plurality of electronic exchanges214. In one example embodiment, the user programmable interface 204allows a user to enter any configuration parameters to be used by themarket grid application 208 or the trading application 206. The userprogrammable interface 204 may include any type of interface. Forexample, the user programmable interface 204 may be a command-driveninterface, a graphical user interface that takes advantage of computergraphics, or the combination thereof. The graphical user interface mayinclude one or more windows that can be moved around the display screen,and their size and shape can be changed as the user wishes. A window mayin turn include icons that represent commands, files, or more windows.Alternatively, rather than using a user programmable interface at theclient terminal, an intelligent communication interface could be usedinstead. In such an embodiment, a third party application could inputone or more variables into the trading application 206 and the marketgrid application 208, and the applications could operate based on thespecified variables. The types of variables and functions will bedescribed in greater detail below.

In one embodiment, the user programmable interface 204 can beimplemented in a software module or processor. The user programmableinterface 204 can be a routine, a data structure, or the combinationthereof, stored in the memory unit 212, and a microprocessor (coupled tothe user programmable interface) may perform the functions of the userprogrammable interface described herein.

As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, the user programmable interface204 may take a format of different windows, which may be displayed viathe display devices 212 of the client terminal 200, such as a screen ofthe client terminal 200. The windows can include as many functionalicons as the user requests, and each icon may include an image displayedon the screen to represent an element that can be manipulated by theuser. Specific examples of icons and functionality will be describedbelow.

Information being provided by the trading application 206 may bedisplayed to a trader via the display devices 216, and may allow atrader to view market data, enter, cancel, change, and view tradeorders. Preferably, the trading application 206 and the market gridapplication 208 have access to market information from the hostexchanges 214, and allow a trader to view market data, enter, change,and cancel orders, and view order related information. A commerciallyavailable trading application that allows a user to trade in a systemlike that shown in FIG. 1 is X_TRADER® from Trading TechnologiesInternational, Inc. of Chicago, Ill. X_TRADER° also provides anelectronic trading interface, referred to as MD Trader™, in whichworking orders and bid/ask quantities are displayed in association witha static price axis or scale. As mentioned above, the scope of theexample embodiments is not limited by the type of terminal or deviceused, and is not limited to any particular type of a tradingapplication.

Portions of X_TRADER® and the MD Trader™-style display are described inU.S. Pat. No. 6,772,132, entitled “Click Based Trading With IntuitiveGrid Display of Market Depth,” filed on Jun. 9, 2000, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/971,087, entitled “Click Based Trading WithIntuitive Grid Display of Market Depth and Price Consolidation,” filedon Oct. 5, 2001, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/125,894,entitled “Trading Tools for Electronic Trading,” filed on Apr. 19, 2002,the contents of each are incorporated herein by reference.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the trading application 206 andthe market grid application 208 are shown as two separate applications.However, it should be understood that the functionality of bothapplications could be combined into a single application as well. In oneexample embodiment, the market grid application 208 allows a trader,among other things that will be described in greater detail below, analternative means to view market, manage working orders, and enter neworders.

IV. Graphical User Interface

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example market grid interface300 that can be used for order entry and order management according toone example embodiment.

The example market grid interface 300 includes a price axis 302 and atime axis 304. According to one example embodiment, the price axis 302corresponds to price levels or some other derivative of price, such asyield or volatility, associated with a tradable object. The price axis302 shows price levels in one tick increments; however, different tickincrements could also be used based on user-configuration. According toone example embodiment, the price axis 302 may be of a static type, asdescribed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,132, entitled “Click Based TradingWith Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth,” the contents of which havebeen incorporated above by reference. Accordingly, the values in theprice column 302 are static, such that, for example, they do notnormally change position unless a re-centering, re-positioning, or otheruser initiated commands (such as selecting of one of the scroll buttons322A or 322B) are received. As will be described later, bid and askquantity indicators are oriented along the price column 302 in a column312. Then, when changes in the market occur, the trader can visualizethem by watching indicators in the column 312 move along the pricecolumn 302, while the price indicators in the price column 302 remainstatic.

To distinguish the inside market prices from other prices displayed onthe price axis 302, the inside market prices could be displayed usingspecial font styles, highlighting, or color coding the cellscorresponding to the inside market prices. The best bid/ask prices of114215 and 114220 in FIG. 3 are shown in bold and use the increased fontsize so that they can be easily distinguished from other market depthprices. The cells corresponding to prices and/or quantities could bealso color-coded based on whether they correspond to ask or bidprices/quantities. For example, red could be used in relation to askquantity cells, and blue could be used in relation to buy quantitycells. However, different colors could be used as well based on the userpreferences.

The time axis 304 corresponds to a future time period as well as thecurrent time. The time axis 304 can be a continuous (or discontinuous)time axis with a linear or non-linear time scale. The time axis in FIG.3 uses a scale with 10 seconds increments. (However, it is understoodthat any scale having any number of increments may be used—for example,a linear or non-linear scale with any number of increments could beused.) For example, the time axis 304 could be divided into a pluralityof regions that can form a continuous axis, with each region having itsown linear time scale. In such an embodiment, the first region couldcorrespond to the first future minute, and the time scale could use thetime increments of 10 seconds. Then, the second region could correspondto the next 9 minutes, with a time scale set to 1 minute each, thus, thetwo regions creating a continuous 10 minutes interval. Additionalregions could be similarly created to show additional future timeperiods. It should be understood that different time intervals could bedefined in relation to each region, and different time increments couldbe used in relation to each time interval based on the user'spreferences.

According to one example embodiment, the graphical interface 300 candisplay current market conditions, such as current quantity valuesavailable at a plurality of price levels corresponding to the price axis302. The graphical interface 300 includes a quantity column 312 thatdisplays the current inside market bid/ask quantities, in this example,the quantities of 117 and 77 associated with the price levels 114215 and114220, as well as market depth quantities at other price levels. WhileFIG. 3 illustrates a single quantity column 312, it should be understoodthat more than one column could be used as well. For example, twoseparate quantity columns could be used, the first column correspondingto bid quantities, and the second column corresponding to askquantities. Also, it should be understood that the example interface 300is not even limited to using columns, and different types of displaycould be used as well.

As the market conditions change, the quantity indicators can dynamicallymove relative to the price axis 302 so that a trader can quickly tell ifthe market has moved up or down in value. Locations of the bid and askcells along the price axis 302 are fixed in relation to the pricelevels. For example, the location corresponding to the current best askquantity is fixed to the current best ask price of 114220, so that asthe inside market goes up or down, the user can quickly view thischange. A user could also reposition the market along the price axis302. Upon repositioning, the locations corresponding to the quantitycells will become fixed in relation to a new set of price levels. Itshould be understood that re-positioning of the market information mayoccur automatically or manually. Also, it should be understood that thelocations of the price column 302 and the quantity column 312 are notfixed, and the columns could be rearranged. For example, the price axis302 could be displayed horizontally, or yet at some other angle.

In addition to displaying quantity values numerically via the quantitycolumn 312, the quantities available at each price level could bedisplayed in a graphical format as well. FIG. 3 illustrates market depthin a bar chart format 314, where the length of each bar displayedhorizontally to a price level on the price axis 302 may represent thequantity available at the corresponding price level. It should beunderstood that the length of each bar could be based on a user-definedscale. Also, different chart types could be used as well to representthe quantity values graphically.

The graphical interface 300 could also illustrate different parameterscorresponding to the current market conditions using indicators. Suchparameters could include a last traded price, an opening price, ayesterday's closing price, a last traded quantity, and many others. Thegraphical interface 300 could also illustrate historical data, such ashistorical quantities that were traded during a predetermined timeperiod in relation to each price level. Also, rather than showinghistorical quantity values, a historical quantity graph could bedisplayed in relation to each price level such that a trader can get anidea of traded quantity variations over a predetermined time period inthe past. One such graphical representation of the historical datacorresponding to the last traded quantity is shown in relation to theprice level 114245 at 324. It should be understood that differentmethods could be used to show traded quantity variations. For example,the mid-point of the height of the total traded quantity bar displayedin relation to a specific price level may correspond to a specificquantity value, such as a quantity that was traded during apredetermined time interval when the market opened, or yet during someother user-configurable time period.

According to one example embodiment, the graphical interface 300 isdivided into two order entry regions, a timed order entry area 306 andan immediate order entry area 308. A trader can use the timed orderentry area 306 to place timed orders, e.g., orders that will be placedin the market at some user-selected time in the future. It should beunderstood that two different approaches could be used for sending thetimed orders to an electronic exchange, and the approaches could beexchange specific. According to one approach, an order can be sent forexecution to an exchange only when a predetermined time defined inrelation to the timed order is detected. Alternatively, a timed ordercould be sent to an exchange when it is configured, and the exchangecould forward the order to its execution engine when the predeterminedtime defined in relation to the order is detected. Unlike the timedorder entry area 306, the immediate order entry area 308 enables atrader to submit orders to an electronic exchange for the immediateexecution.

According to one example embodiment, a trader could place orders via thetwo regions, such as by selecting a point in one of the regions with auser input device. If the order is placed via the immediate order entryregion 308, the y-coordinate of the selected point can be mapped to aspecific price level in the price column 302 corresponding to they-coordinate level of the selected point. Similarly, the price axis 302and the time axis 304 can be used by a trader as y- and x-coordinatereferences for mapping selected points on the timed order interface 306.For example, when a trader selects a point in the timed order entry area306, a y-coordinate of the selected point could be mapped to a pricelevel on the price axis 302, and an x-coordinate could be mapped to aspecific time on the time axis 304. For example, an indicator 310Dcorresponds to an order at the price level of 114235, with the timeremaining to the order execution currently set to 1 minute and 10seconds.

It should be understood that a trader could submit orders via the orderentry areas 306 and 308 using many different methods. For example, atrader could use an input device, such as a mouse, to position a cursorin a desired location, and upon selection of the mouse button (such asupon the down stroke of the mouse button or upon release of the button),an order can be sent to an electronic exchange—such as when the orderentry is detected in relation to the immediate order entry region 308.According to one example embodiment, buttons of an input device can beprogrammed so that when a particular button is pressed, it can activatean action of sending a buy order to a matching engine at an exchange,and, when another button is pressed, it activates sending a sell order.Also, a trader could submit an order using the bid and ask quantitydisplay region 312. In an embodiment where two separate columns are usedfor bid quantities and ask quantities, an order is a buy order or a sellorder depending on whether the user input is detected in the bid displayregion or the ask display region. The example methods for order entryare further described in the applications referenced above as well asthe co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/376,417, entitled “ASystem and Method for Trading and Displaying Market Information in anElectronic Trading Environment, filed on Feb. 28, 2003, fullyincorporated herein by reference.

The graphical user interface could also provide a number of selectionicons to be used by a trader to activate different order types, such asa stop order indicator, a stop-limit order indicator, a limit orderindicator, or yet some other order types. In such an embodiment, atrader could first select an icon corresponding to a desired order type,and then use the user input device to drag the indicator to a desiredlocation in one of the regions 306 or 308. It should be understood thatgraphical indicator or icons displayed in the regions of the graphicalinterface 300 can take many different formats and could be generatedusing many different methods.

A trader can use a quantity pad 326 to preset a quantity for any orderto be entered via one of the regions. The top cell of the quantity pad326 defines a default quantity, which in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3corresponds to the quantity of 20. It should be understood that a tradercould change the default quantity by selecting a different quantity viathe quantity pad 326 or manually entering a desired quantity value inthe default quantity field. The quantity pad 326 could be configured touse different operation modes, such as an “add” mode, a “calc” mode, oryet some other modes. If the “add mode” is selected, and a tradersequentially selects quantities using the quantity pad, the selectedquantities could be added. For example, if a trader selects 1, 5, and 10with the “add” mode activated, the quantity could be set to 16. Then, inthe “Calc” mode, the selection of 1, 5, and 10 would result in theoverall quantity of 1510. It should be understood that differentoperation modes could be defined as well in relation to the quantitypad, and a trader could modify the quantities available for selection onthe quantity pad 326 based on the trader's trading strategy. Forexample, the quantity pad 326 could be configured to provide largerquantity values when a trader's trading strategy involves submittinglarge quantity orders.

As mentioned earlier, a trader could enter timed orders via the timedorder entry region 306. It should be understood that different ordertypes could exist for timed orders, and the graphical interface 300could provide a plurality of selection icons corresponding to differenttimed order types. For example, a timed order could include a singleorder having an order quantity, a price, and a preset time trigger that,when detected, can trigger submission of the order to a matching engine.In addition to sending single timed orders, a trader could also submitdifferent timed order types. For example, a user may wish to break up anorder having a large order quantity into a plurality of smaller quantityorders that could then be submitted to an exchange over a set period oftime upon detecting an initial time trigger. According to one exampleembodiment, such orders could be submitted to the exchange based onuser-defined time intervals. Alternatively, each subsequent order can besent to an exchange when the preceding order is filled, and the processmay continue until the total order quantity gets filled. Each ordercould also have pre-configured limitations, such as a predefined timeuntil the order should be kept active. For example, if a working orderis associated with such a limitation, it can be deleted from an exchangeif it is not filled until the predefined time.

When a trader enters an order via any of the two regions of thegraphical interface 300, a working order indicator can be displayed inthe immediate order entry region 308 and/or the timed order entry region306. For example, when an order is entered via the timed order entryregion 306, an order icon could be displayed in the timed order entryregion 306. Several such timed order indicators 310A-310H areillustrated in the timed order region 306. According to one exampleembodiment, the indicators could be color coded to indicate if a timedorder is a buy order or a sell order. Also, a position of the indicatorin the timed order region 306 can be used to determine a price level atwhich the corresponding order was placed as well as the time remaininguntil the order will be placed in the market. For example, referring tothe indicator 310D, a timed order corresponding to the indicator 310Dhas been placed at the price level of 114235, and the time remaining forthe order to be placed in the market is 1 minute and 10 seconds.

Some traders may use a plurality of accounts for trading. In such anembodiment, it would be beneficial for a trader to be able to view whichorders correspond to different accounts. Therefore, in addition to colorcoding the indicators to identify if the order was a buy or a sell,different indicators could be used to identify the association of eachorder with a specific account. For example, different indicator shapescould be used to differentiate a plurality of trading accounts.According to such an embodiment, referring to FIG. 3, the orderindicators 310B, 310F, and 310H could correspond to three orders thatwere entered using the same account. Alternatively, rather than usingshapes, different colors could be assigned to different accounts, andthe order indicators could be color-coded to distinguish betweendifferent accounts, while buys and sells are distinguished usingdifferent shapes.

The use of different indicator types in relation to a plurality ofaccounts could be especially beneficial for brokers or other traders whomanage a large number of orders while using more than one tradingaccount. The interface 300 could allow for selection of differentaccounts, which in turn would result in display of only the orderindicators that correspond to the selected account(s). It should beunderstood that a number of filters could be provided via the interface300, and the traders could select one or more filters to view a desiredset of indicators.

In addition to using different indicator types or colors to distinguishbetween trading accounts or order types, the displayed indicators couldhave different sizes to indicate an order quantity corresponding to eachorder. For example, the sizes of the indicators could be based on userconfiguration. According to one example embodiment, a bigger indicatorsize may correspond to a larger order quantity. The visualrepresentation of the order quantity may provide a quick risk assessmentfor each order.

According to one example embodiment, the timed order indicatorsdisplayed in the timed order region 306 are dynamic. More specifically,the position of each indicator at any point in time in relation to thetime axis is dynamically updated and preferably reflects the timeremaining until the order execution. For example, the position of theindicator 310D reflects that the order will be sent to a matching enginein 1 minute and 10 seconds. As the remaining execution time changes, theindicator 310D is preferably repositioned to reflect the remaining timeuntil order execution and to give the user time to cancel or modify oneor more parameters corresponding to the order.

The timed order indicators could be also repositioned based on userinitiated actions. For example, a user could move a timed orderindicator to increase or decrease the time remaining until the orderassociated with the indicator will be submitted to a matching engine atan electronic exchange. It should be understood that different ordermodification modes could be selected when order parameters are changedby moving order indicators. According to one example embodiment, when auser selects an order indicator, such as clicks on the order indicator,and then starts moving the indicator, an order associated with the orderindicator can be immediately cancelled. Alternatively, the orderassociated with the selected indicator does not have to be cancelledimmediately upon detecting the selection and movement of the indicator,but rather the order can be cancelled when the order indicator is placedin another location of the interface 300 corresponding to the desiredorder parameters. It should be understood that the user could select themode of operation to be used in relation to the order indicators, anddifferent modes of operation could be provided as well.

In addition to changing a time period remaining until order execution, atrader could change the price of any timed order by moving the orderindicator to a different price level. Such a movement would result incanceling a timed order associated with the initial position of theindicator, and configuring a second timed order based on the newposition of the indicator. As an order indicator is moved between pricelevels, a price level could be displayed in relation to the indicatorbeing moved so that a user can be assured that dropping the indicator ata specific location will result in placing a new order at a desiredprice level. In addition to displaying the price level, the time valuecorresponding to the current location of the indicator could bedisplayed as well.

Further, it should be understood that the example embodiments are notlimited to selecting and moving a single indicator. Alternatively, auser could simultaneously select multiple timed order indicator and movethem around to desired price levels and/or desired points in time.

A user could also assign certain actions to result in a quick deletionof the orders from the electronic exchange. For example, a right-clickaction or a left-click action on an order indicator could be used toquickly delete an order associated with the order indicator. It shouldbe understood that the same methods could be used in relation to theorder indicators in the timed order region 306 and the immediate fillregion 308. Alternatively, dragging and dropping an order indicator in aspecific area of the graphical interface 300 could result in deletion ofthe order as well.

The timed order region 306 also includes an execution threshold line330. According to one example embodiment, the timed order indicatorsmove toward the execution threshold line 330 as the time remaining toeach order's execution decreases. When a timed order indicator reachesthe execution threshold line 330, an order associated with thatindicator will be automatically submitted to a matching engine at anelectronic exchange for execution.

An alert mechanism could be provided in relation to the timed orderentry region 306 so that a trader can be alerted when one or more timedorder indicators are close to reaching the execution threshold line 330.It should be understood that the alert mechanism could take manydifferent forms, including sound alerts, visual alerts, or thecombination thereof. For example, when an alert associated with acertain indicator is triggered, the indicator could start flashingand/or a predetermined audio signal could be played. A user could alsopre-program the time when the alerts should be activated in relation tothe order indicators, and the alerts don't necessarily have to beapplied to all order indicators. For example, a user could activate thealerts only in relation to some order indicators, such as the indicatorscorresponding to orders with large order quantities or orderscorresponding to certain trading accounts. Also, more than one alertcould be configured in relation to a single order indicator, such thatdifferent alerts could be activated at predefined time intervals beforeexecution of an order associated with the indicator.

As mentioned earlier, when the timed order indicator reaches theexecution threshold line 330, an order associated with the indicatorwill be submitted to a matching engine at an electronic exchange. Whenthe order is sent to a matching engine, the order indicator is moved tothe immediate fill order area 308. More specifically, the orderindicator is displayed in relation to a depth bar corresponding to anorder's price. For example, an order icon 328 corresponds to an orderthat was entered at a price level of 114225.

Also, the position of the order indicator in the market depth bar mayprovide an indication as to the position of the order in the order queueat an electronic exchange. For example, the position of the indicator328 shows that the order corresponding to the indicator 328 is probablyat the end of the order queue. Then, as the market depth changes, theposition of the indicator can change to indicate an estimated orderposition in the order queue. The example methods for estimating orderposition in an order queue are described in the U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/452,567, entitled “System and Method for Estimating OrderPosition,” the contents of which are fully incorporated herein byreference. Alternatively, the position in the queue can be computedbased on exchange provided data. However, it should be understood thatdifferent order position estimation methods could be used as well.

In addition to showing estimated positions of orders in the order queue,additional information could be provided in relation to the orderindicators as well. According to one example embodiment, a time in themarket indicator could be shown in relation to an indicator showing anestimated queue position of an order so that a trader can easilydetermine how long each order has been in the market. It should beunderstood that the time in market indicator could take many differentformats, including simply color-coding the indicator showing anestimated position of an order in an order queue. Alternatively, a timevalue could be displayed in relation to the indicator showing theposition of the order in an order queue, and the time value could bedisplayed continuously or could be activated upon detecting a certainuser input, such as a user placing a cursor corresponding to a userinput device in relation to the desired indicator.

According to one example embodiment, a trader could also move theindicators displayed in the market depth regions. For example, a tradercould move the order indicators to the back of the queue by moving theindicators to the left of the current indicator position. Such amovement may effectively result in canceling a pending order in theorder queue and submitting a new order that will be positioned at theend of the order queue.

In addition to showing the estimated position of the order in the orderqueue, a user could also view additional order parameters by eitherselecting an order indicator or positioning a user input device icon inrelation to the order indicator. By doing that, a user may triggeractivation of another window that can display order details, such as anorder quantity, a time period that has passed since the order has beensitting in the order queue, or yet some other order parameters that auser wishes to view.

While the example embodiments described above refer to theuser-initiated indicator movements in relation to a single interface, itshould be understood that when a trader views orders and trades using anumber of graphical interfaces, such as the one described in FIG. 3, atrader could potentially move order indicators displayed in relation toone interface to another interface. Also, it should be understood thatorder indicators corresponding to more than one tradable object could bedisplayed in relation to a single trading interface as well.

In addition to the timed order region 306 and the immediate fill region308, the graphical interface 300 includes a virtual order region 331.According to one example embodiment, the virtual order region 331 can beused to display virtual orders 332, 334 that can be triggered upondetecting one or more preconfigured conditions. It should be understoodthat the conditions could take many different user configured formats,and could be based on market data, news, or yet other data fromdifferent sources. When one or more conditions preconfigured for avirtual order is triggered, the virtual order can become a timed order,which would then trigger a display of an order indicator in the timedorder region 306. Alternatively, when the condition(s) associated with avirtual order are satisfied, the virtual order could be immediatelyplaced in the market, which, in turn, would cause repositioning of anorder indicator from the virtual order region 330 to either theimmediate fill region 308 or the timed order region 306 depending on theorder configuration.

It should be understood that the graphical interface 300 described aboveis not limited to the layout shown in FIG. 3, and different embodimentsare possible as well. For example, the immediate fill region 308 couldbe positioned in the bottom half of the graphical interface with theprice axis running horizontally, and the timed order region 306 could bepositioned in the upper half, with the time axis running vertically, orvice versa. Different embodiments could be possible as well. Also, itshould be understood that the values on either axis couldincrease/decrease in any user-defined direction, and the exampleembodiments are not limited to any specific configuration.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent invention, particularly, any “preferred” or “present”embodiments, are merely possible examples of implementations. Manyvariations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiment(s) of the invention without departing substantially from thespirit and principles of the invention. All such modifications andvariations are intended to be included within the scope of the presentinvention and protected by the following claims.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the system and method for market grid interface may beembodied in a computer program product that includes one or morecomputer readable media. For example, a computer readable medium caninclude a readable memory device, such as a hard drive device, a CD-ROM,a DVD-ROM, or a computer diskette, having computer readable program codesegments stored thereon. The computer readable medium can also include acommunications or transmission medium, such as, a bus or a communicationlink, either optical, wired or wireless having program code segmentscarried thereon as digital or analog data signals.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

1. A method including: receiving by a computing device a command toinitiate placement of a timed trade order for a tradable object, whereinthe timed trade order is associated with an order time and an orderprice, wherein the order time is a future time with respect to the timewhen the command to initiate placement of the timed trade order wasgenerated, wherein the command is received from a client terminaldevice, wherein the command is generated in response to selection of alocation in an order entry interface displayed by the client terminaldevice, wherein the location in the order entry interface corresponds tothe order price and the order time; and placing by the computing deviceat the order time an order for the tradable object at the order price.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is an exchange.3. The method of claim 2, wherein placing the order for the tradableobject includes forwarding the order to an execution engine of theexchange.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is agateway.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein placing the order for thetradable object includes sending the order to an exchange.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the computing device is the client terminal device.7. The method of claim 6, wherein placing the order for the tradableobject includes sending the order to an exchange.
 8. A computer readablemedium having stored therein instructions executable by a processor,wherein the instructions are executable to: receive a command toinitiate placement of a timed trade order for a tradable object, whereinthe timed trade order is associated with an order time and an orderprice, wherein the order time is a future time with respect to the timewhen the command to initiate placement of the timed trade order wasgenerated, wherein the command is received from a client terminaldevice, wherein the command is generated in response to selection of alocation in an order entry interface displayed by the client terminaldevice, wherein the location in the order entry interface corresponds tothe order price and the order time; and place at the order time an orderfor the tradable object at the order price.
 9. The computer readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the command is received by an exchange. 10.The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein placing the order forthe tradable object includes forwarding the order to an execution engineof the exchange.
 11. The computer readable medium of claim 8, whereinthe command is received by a gateway.
 12. The computer readable mediumof claim 11, wherein placing the order for the tradable object includessending the order to an exchange.
 13. The computer readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the command is received by a client terminal device.14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein placing the orderfor the tradable object includes sending the order to an exchange.